The Butterfly Effect
by Elblu
Summary: A façade of a smile glimmering in a false and imperfect gleam, that's what Kyoko was, an illusion hidden in layers to hide her faults. Faults of what exactly, that's what stumped Haru, what did she have to hide? MALE/Haru x Kyoko  maybe if you squint?


_The Butterfly Effect_

_Disclaimer: Mmm, must I? ...Okay, I have no claims over KHR it belongs only to Akira Amano and TV Tokyo._

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_It all started at the brush of a touch. _Haruka would murmur an airy apology, his attention fixated on the soggy dishes at hand. And at the corner of his eye Haru caught his dish washing buddy, Kyoko-chan, smiling up at him. That had caused the spark of curiosity. Haru never gave much thought of Sasagawa Kyoko, a beauty he had to admit with a friendly persona and an angelic smile that made her pleasing to the eye. But that smile made her all the more vulnerable. Having connections to the underworld—his mother a house wife and his father a math professor teaching at a University nearby, not many would suspect them being once hired guns. At a tender age of six Haru was exposed to the shady world and its people, and the first lesson Haru ever learned was that nothing was as it seems and that he should remain that way as well. Maybe that's why his flame attribute is Mist, an illusion that prohibits knowledge of its true nature. That was good old Haru. As cheerful and overzealous as Haruka was, he did have his breaking points, his eyes caught in a far-off gaze and his face softening in an extent with his guard lowered. Rare, yes, but in existence itself, although unconsciously. They occurred more often now, in the present, then it did in the past, perhaps it was merely because he finally had "friends" that he could relate to what with all of them having ties to the mafia one way or another. Or was it rather blissful ignorance that the Vongola Decimo's generation carried that let his own guard falters? All these annoying queries bugged him, like a mosquito bite, raw and persistent.

It was blissful, in the beginning at least. It really was, with Kyoko-chan there he could feel himself shedding that shield that kept him from getting too close to someone and being too intimate, but maybe that was just her charm, her charisma. With just a simple smile and glance she made the world all innocent and good again—even though it really wasn't. Haru could see why Tsuna-san was so attracted to her, a true goddess she was. Pure and innocent, like a blushing maiden from a fairytale. But that was what Haru hated about her the most, what right did she have to act like the world was sugar coded with candies and sweets? Being so dull and ignorant, Kyoko was two-dimensional, and that all the more fuelled his annoyance that was slowly wearing his patience thin for the young Sasagawa. She was so damn obvious—of both the pain she conflicts for the Sun Guardian and his boss and the danger she is practically swimming in—but it made him stop and think of her own circumstances, was it perhaps her own way to hide from reality? A façade of a smile glimmering in a false and imperfect gleam, that's what Kyoko was, an illusion hidden in layers to hide her faults. Faults of what exactly, that's what stumped Haru, _what did she have to hide?_

Behind those smiles, Haru could see the weary lines that stretch at her dimples and under her eyes, anxiety and worry laced at the crevices. Over the mere years Kyoko was only consumed by the agony and torture of knowing what kind of world her brother and friends reside in and she knew she could do nothing but to smile and clean their wounds.

Maybe that's what brought him to hold her in his arms, an embrace of minute love and protection, because, she was only human—_more open and loving and stronger than Haruka could ever be_—and she deserved this brief moment of piece of only knowing the beat of Haru's heart the warmth of his chest.

From the start, by that smile, Haru could only protect Kyoko as the maiden she was, he would be her knight in shining armor; even if that armor was stain in red.

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_So, how was it for my first one-shot? Felt like I went to fast on this and its pretty short, but, meh, whatever...and yes I know Haru seems OOC but it seems like it would be a nice change, and oh yes before I forget, Haru doesn't acutally have mist flames she supposedly has lightening flames, but for the plot relevance of this fic lets just go with mist m'kay? Give me feed back on what you guys think!_

_Signed, SxG_


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